Hardware => Probably

Log file NxOgre.html says:

NxOgre::PhysXDriver::_dumpVersionsToConsole

NxOgre 1.0.20 Bleeding Edge (Debug) started. Working with
- PhysX => 2.8.1 (281)
- Ogre => 1.4.8 (Eihort)
- Hardware => Probably
- Platform => Windows (Debug)
Why does it think that I probably have PhysX hardware? I certainly don't have it.





Edit: it's because the function looks like this:

void PhysXDriver::_dumpVersionsToConsole() {

char* version_string = (char*) malloc(sizeof(char) * 1024);
unsigned int compiled_string_length = 0;

compiled_string_length =
sprintf(version_string,
"%s started. Working with \n"
" - PhysX => %i.%i.%i (%i)\n"
#if (NX_USE_OGRE == 1)
" - Ogre => %i.%i.%i (%s)\n"
#endif
" - Hardware => Probably\n"
" - Platform => "
#ifdef NX_PLATFORM_WINDOWS
"Windows"
#else
#ifdef NX_PLATFORM_LINUX
"Linux"
#else
"Unknown"
#endif
#endif

#ifdef NX_DEBUG
" (Debug)"
#else
" (Release)"
#endif
"\n"
, Nx_Version_Full,
NX_SDK_VERSION_MAJOR, NX_SDK_VERSION_MINOR, NX_SDK_VERSION_BUGFIX, NX_SDK_VERSION_NUMBER,
#if (NX_USE_OGRE == 1)
OGRE_VERSION_MAJOR, OGRE_VERSION_MINOR, OGRE_VERSION_PATCH, OGRE_VERSION_NAME
#endif

);

char* compiled_string = (char*) malloc(sizeof(char) * compiled_string_length + 1);
memcpy(compiled_string, version_string, sizeof(char) * compiled_string_length);
compiled_string[compiled_string_length] = 0;

NxDebug(compiled_string);

free(compiled_string);
free(version_string);
}


It doesn't check if there is PhysX hardware or not.


Is the NxOgre able to use the PhysX hardware at all?

No. There isn't much point anymore, there isn't any demand for it now since of CUDA and I cannot test it because my PhysX card's fan is broken.

But I thought that the PhysX hardware is in the future so that you either have the AGEIA card, or you have an Nvidia graphics card with CUDA.

I have understood that it would not matter which one you have, for the programmer it would be the same. This is how I understood it from Nvidia press releases or interviews.

So actually, it does matter for NxOgre.

I don't understand why you say there is no demand for it. I think there is MUCH MORE demand for it after Nvidia releases their PhysX CUDA driver!

I meant the demand for the PhysX card, I don't think I've seen more than a handful using it. There obviously will be some demand for the CUDA support, which I will implement. But I could spend my time on other parts of NxOgre.

But to be fair, hardware scenes are really easy to do; it's just a flag. Some other parts are a bit of a pain - such as a paging meshes.

ok ok

well anyways, I think Nvidia said that the PhysX CUDA driver == AGEIA PhysX card driver to the user (application programmer).

I think the support for it should be done, there are a lot of 8800 graphics card users and why not give them the chance to benefit from it with PhysX.

And my guess is that over time Nvidia will not make graphics cards without CUDA. If that will be the case then it would be very important for NxOgre to utilize it.

Don't worry it'll be implemented when PhysX and CUDA come around.

Of course I don't have a graphics card to test it.

Maybe you can ask Nvidia to give you one?

If you present your case well, they could see that it is valuable to them to support you.

You have a lot of evidence here of the work you have done. You would not be just some random guy who is asking for free stuff. You are working to make their product more successful. You are working to get them more revenue.

I need a step in a door to even ask. I did have one with Ageia well almost, apparently they knew about NxOgre and was quite happy with it. NVidia is a different and larger beast. Asking for a T-Shirt for example is cheeky but asking for a very expensive card is very different. I'm sure Sinbad who is well known in the graphics world doesn't get freebies.

I'll eventually get one when I can afford an upgrade to my computer setup when I go all Intel and get a Core processor.

NVIDIA has released new system software.

http://developer.nvidia.com/object/physx_downloads.html

PhysX_8.06.12 System Software

This System Software is a required installation for developing and running PhysX-enabled applications. This new release adds support for NVIDIA PhysX on GeForce 9800 GTX, GeForce GTX 280, and GeForce GTX 260 GPUs, including SLI configurations and supports versions 2.8.1, 2.8.0, 2.7.4, 2.7.3, 2.7.2, 2.7.1, 2.7.0, 2.6.4, 2.6.3, 2.6.2, 2.6.1, 2.6.0, 2.5.1, 2.5.0, 2.4.4, 2.4.1, 2.4.0, 2.3.3, 2.3.2, 2.3.1 of the PhysX runtime engine.

Note: GeForce v177.39 driver package also includes NVIDIA PhysX System Software v8.06.12.

GeForce GTX 280 GPUs GeForce GTX 260 GPUs GeForce 9800 GTX GPUs AGEIA PhysX Processor (All)

That's it I think. I don't have such hardware yet so I can't test it! But when I'm building a new computer it isn't hard to choose the graphics card... it will be one that can run PhysX.


Hehehe, just noticed there is no 8800 card in that list but it has CUDA I think. Do they do that on purpose, so that they get newer card models sold. I think they are not that evil, maybe they will release a driver that supports the other CUDA cards later.

This basically turns your graphics card into a physx card, but I'm curious about the performance impact it has on the graphics because it needs to sacrifice some graphical performance for physics performance.
They also said a geforce 8 series driver is in the making, just takes some longer I guess

I'm curious about the performance impact it has on the graphics because it needs to sacrifice some graphical performance for physics performance. I guess the same as rendering another bilboard with a large texture and some shaders

This basically turns your graphics card into a physx card, but I'm curious about the performance impact it has on the graphics because it needs to sacrifice some graphical performance for physics performance.P

tests with the new 3dmark vantage and geforce enabled physx showed almost no graphics performance decrease. sounds good to me ^^